


Fogged Breath

by BluePlanetTrash



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Asthma, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-30 04:47:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12646407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluePlanetTrash/pseuds/BluePlanetTrash
Summary: Ever since he was little Lance suffered from asthma. He didn't think that it would be much of a problem in space. Fate had other plans for him, however.





	Fogged Breath

All in all the mission was quite a simple one; they were sent to a planet to investigate a supposed abandoned Galra base to see if there was anyone or anything left behind that could prove useful to them. It was located on a desolate ice planet, where there was billowing freezing cold air rushing over the ground, and snow and ice whipping around wildly. Now, the paladin armour kept the paladins quite warm, except the air they were breathing in was still below zero. This wasn’t a problem for most of the paladins, except of course for Lance.

“Guys, how long do you think this is going to take?” He asked from the back of the group. None of them turned to look at him, distracted by the sights of giant ice peaks all around them.

“I’m not sure Lance, we don’t have much information,” Shiro finally answered. Lance nodded his head, knowing that the others couldn’t see him. He wasn’t feeling the effects yet but he knew that eventually they would show; learning the hard way his first cold winter in America. He wasn’t sure what they were going to do if he suddenly started having an attack, he had left his emergency inhaler in his room at the Garrison the night they left. Hopefully, with all the technology on the ship, they would have an oxygen tank and mask if it came down to it.

“Alright team, be on high alert,” Shiro announced as the base finally came into their sights. They cautiously approached the entrance and were relived to see no Galra, as they suspected.

“It looks like this place doesn’t have any power,” Pidge commented.

“Do you think we can pry it open?” Shiro asked.

“It looks like a simple sliding mechanism, like the automatic doors at a mall,” Hunk answered starting to push his fingers into the space between the two doors. He managed to open them a crack and Keith joined him, both taking one side to pull to the side. They let the others pass by them before sliding in, the doors started closing behind them but stopped with a wide space still open, letting the snow trickle in. They shrugged and trailed behind the others and they held their bayards up, tense and ready for an attack.

“We’ll split up here,” Shiro announced. “Pidge, will you be able to pull any data off the computers?” he asked.

“There’s always a chance, I don’t know exactly how Altean technology works at extracting data like that but we might able to get something,” she replied pulling up the mini computer on her wrist.

“Let’s try it,” he smiled. “You and I will go to the server room, Keith take the first hallway, Hunk the second, and Lance the third, see if you can find anything of interest, or people that were left behind, we don’t know how long ago the Galra left so be careful,” he commanded.  
  


“Aye aye Captain,” Lance said with a mock salute. Shiro smiled in response and put a hand on Pidge’s shoulder as they walked away. The other three nodded to each other and went their separate ways.

“We’ll meet in the same place once we’re finished our patrols, it isn’t a large base so it shouldn’t take too long,” Shiro’s voice said over the coms. Lance felt a small wave of relief wash over him. Maybe they would be in and out before his asthma set in. However, his hope was quickly dashed, as he peeked into a room about halfway down his hallway he could hear his lungs give a slight wheeze.

“Son of a bitch,” he bit out quietly. He could already feel his breaths getting shallower and he pressed his hand into his chest trying to draw in a deeper breath. It only led to a deep pain in his chest and he decided to continue to the next door, eager to finish his job and return to the checkpoint and wait for his teammates. It wasn’t long before he made to the end of his hallway and started making his way back.

“We weren’t able to pull much, but we got some information,” Pidge said excitedly. Lance felt a smile go over his face at the sound of the girl’s voice, able to picture the smile on her face.

“Way to go Pidge!” Hunk replied back just as excited as she was, Keith’s chuckle came over the coms as well.

“How is everyone else doing?” Shiro asked.

“My hallway is clear,” Hunk said.

“Same here,” Keith commented.

“Mine is too,” Lance started letting out a few coughs at the end, trying to kick-start his lungs into working again.

“Are you okay Lance?” Shiro asked worry marring his voice. Lance felt guilt chew at his stomach, this may not have been a big mission but it was still important to the team and he wanted to complain about his breathing?

“I’m good Shiro, just a little tickle in my throat,” he said reassuringly. He slowly made his way down the hall, trying to make the wheezes coming from him as quiet as possible. Without having any rooms left, he was able to make it back to the check point quickly and met up with the other four.

“This was a bust,” Keith sighed crossing his arms.

“Maybe so, but we’ll have plenty of other chances,” Shiro reassured them. They headed for the doors, trying to prepare for the blast of cold air that was going to meet them as soon as they exited. The bite of cold ran straight through Lance’s airway and he choked slightly on his breath.

“Let’s get back quickly and report to Allura,” Shiro suggested. “Then we can relax for the rest of the day,” he smiled at the cheers that can from around him but didn’t miss the fact that Lance was silent.

“What Lance, the one day we get to skip on training, you decide to quiet down?” Keith asked bumping Lance’s shoulder. Lance jumped and looked at the red paladin and gave a quick quiet chuckle.

“Just trying to decide what I’m going to do first,” he said shrugging his shoulders and giving him a little grin.

“Don’t think too hard, you might hurt yourself,” Keith smirked.

“Hey!” Lance yelped offended. He immediately clutched his throat as a coughing fit overtook him. He looked up with teary eyes to see his teammates crowding around him in worry. He gulped down the last few coughs and continued forward without pause, trying to act casual even though he felt like his lungs were the size of quarters at the moment.

“Are you sure you’re okay Lance?” Pidge asked quickly catching up to him and latching onto his arm. He looked down at her and put his hand on top of her helmet.

“I’m sure Pigeon, don’t worry about me,” he said calmly. He was glad that the storm raged enough around them that they were unable to hear the uneven breathes falling from his mouth. Luckily, the Castle Ship wasn’t too far from the base and they spotted it in the distance pulsing light blue. Lance’s shallow breaths became even lighter as they made it closer to the Castle, becoming quick and erratic. This was worse than a lot of the other times and he could feel tears beginning to gather in his eyes from fear. He had never felt this out of breath before, he would have taken his inhaler by now already and be getting better; but he didn’t have it, and he didn’t know what was going to happen to him now. Suddenly he felt like he was breathing through a straw and he stopped in his tracks. He looked at his teammates with fuzzy vision as his panic reached its peak. He was helpless to watch them continue walking as he fell to his hands and knees trying in vain to suck in a life saving breath. He could see sweat and tears dripping onto the inside of his visor and looked down at the white ground. He wanted to call out for his friends but he could barely breathe, let alone talk at the moment.

‘ _Come on Lance_ ,’ He thought to himself. He shakily started to crawl forward, desperate to get back to his friends. He felt abandoned even though he knew it wasn’t their fault. As they grew further away from them, the trembling in his limbs grew and he fell to the ground knocking the air out of him. The panic increased ten fold when he finally wasn’t able to take a breath at all, and he let out a sad wail.  
  


“Lance?” Hunk’s voice came through the haze like an angel’s call and Lance turned his face to look at the distant group.

“Lance!” He cried running back to the teen and kneeled beside him. “Whats wrong?” he asked worry lighting his face. Lance tried answering him but was still unable to suck in a big enough breath. Hunk’s face filled with realization and he quickly scooped him up in his arms and started running to the Castle, the others following behind him.

“Whats going on? What happened to Lance?” Keith asked. Pidge’s face recognized the signs and her mouth dropped open.

“Is it his asthma?” She asked. Hunk only nodded and focused fully on reaching the Castle, which still had the entrance open for them. They sprinted up the ramp and barely spared the Alteans a second glance before they were heading to the med bay. Hunk laid Lance down on one of the tables and started stripping the top half of his armour off. Coran and Allura ran in looking at the paladins in confusion and worry.

“Coran, do you have an oxygen tank and mask in here?” Shiro asked from where he was looking in cabinets.

“Oh! Yes!” He responded making his way to the table Lance was on. Hunk got his armour off leaving him in the black undersuit and bottom half of the armour. He gently pulled the helmet off of Lance’s head and scrunched his face up in sadness as he saw the fear in Lance’s eyes and the tears that were dried on his face and still in his eyes. He moved when Coran got the mask hooked up and strapped it around Lance’s head. He closed his eyes, and almost started crying again when he was able to take a stuttering breath in. He felt a large hand take his hand and he opened his eyes to see Hunk sitting beside him sobbing in relief. He gave a reassuring smile and squeezed his hand trying to let him know that he was better now. He looked up when a hand threaded in his hair and saw Shiro looking down at him with a worried expression on his face. Again, he gave him a bright smile and leaned into the hand a bit.

“Are you okay now Lance?” Hunk asked quietly after a few minutes of Lance softly taking in the oxygen. He silently nodded his head but he could feel tears making their way to his eyes again. He sniffed and pushed the hand that wasn’t holding Hunk’s over his eyes.

“I thought I was gonna die,” he whispered. Hunk’s hand spasmed in his a bit, and the one in his hair tensed for a second before carding through it again.

“Oh, Lance,” Shiro said quietly. The soft voice was all it took before he began sobbing, trying not to displace the mask on his face, too afraid of losing the precious oxygen he just gained.

“I was so scared, I couldn’t breathe, I thought I could handle it until we got back,” he cried, occasional gasps braking through the speech. “I didn’t want to ruin the mission, but it was so scary,” he whimpered. The others could feel the tears gather in sympathy for their friend and the terror he experienced. Shiro knelt closer to Lance his heart breaking further at the sad blue eyes that stared over the mask at him.

“If this ever happens again, tell us,” he said leaving his hand in the paladin’s hair and gripping his free hand in his own. “No matter where we are, no matter who we’re with; I never want to see you go through this again, promise?” Lance sniffed closing his eyes against the water in his eyes and nodded his head quickly.

“Good,” Shiro sighed. He brought Lance’s head closer and pressed his lips to his sweaty forehead. Lance gave a small smile as his exhaustion finally caught up to him allowing him to sink into a comfortable sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Come visit me at my Tumblr too!: https://blueplanettrash.tumblr.com/


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